The Perfect Thing To Say
by theothersusan
Summary: Completely unrelated to my two previous KevLaur stories. After Lulu drops the Charlotte bombshell on Laura, guess who Laura runs to for comfort?


Laura was ten minutes late for their lunch date, and she hadn't called or texted.

Normally it wouldn't have been that big a deal-sometimes life happened, and if she was still driving Kevin would prefer she _not_ be messing with her phone-but today it was making him really nervous. Not that she'd seemed upset with him last night, but he'd been on tenterhooks for days now, and the sensation of waiting for the other shoe to drop was beginning to get to him.

For the thousandth time, he wondered what on earth had possessed him to tell her he loved her. He _did_ love her, but he could have picked a more opportune moment to say so. Could have picked nearly _any_ other moment, in fact. But no, he'd just had to say it right then. Right when she was upset and distracted and probably a little angry with him for giving her the look he'd given her when she claimed she didn't care about Charlotte. Clearly it hadn't been the ideal time for a declaration of love. What in the world had happened to his filter?

But Kevin knew the answer to that, of course. Laura had happened. Standing there in front of him being...well, herself. Strong and brave and scared and crying and determined and _caring so damn much about everyone,_ and he just hadn't been able to stop himself from telling her how he felt. And honestly, he hadn't expected her to be so shocked. It wasn't as if he'd gone to any great pains to hide the fact that he loved her. Words or no words, he'd sort of figured she knew.

Then she'd given him that look of wide-eyed astonishment...and some kid had started pounding on the door demanding to know what had happened to Santa.

Kevin sighed and stood up from his desk, not wanting to put himself through the exercise of remembering _again_ how Laura had backed away from him and all but run out the door. Granted, she had called him later in the day and acted perfectly normal-had acted perfectly normal ever since, in fact, apparently content to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened-but he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd said too much.

And now she was late for lunch, and he was afraid that maybe she'd changed her mind. He shook his head, trying to physically dislodge that thought, and walked to the door of his office. She was just running late, that was all. He'd go down and meet her in the lobby.

But when he opened the door, there was Laura just a few feet down the hall, walking toward him with her head down in a way that was unusual for her. And then, even more unusually, she walked right past him.

"Laura?" he called out. Surely she must realize she'd just passed his office.

Her head came up, and she turned back to face him, looking as if his voice had brought her out of a fog. "Kevin. I'm sorry. I'm, uh..."

She was upset, that much was obvious, and Kevin was torn between _Honey, what's wrong?_ and _Oh, God, here it comes._ Because she'd be upset if she was about to break up with him...wouldn't she?

"Laura?" he asked again.

"Can we go into your office?" she asked, the words coming out in a rush. "I don't want to have this conversation in the hallway."

Kevin felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach, but he managed to nod, stepping aside to let her in. At least she wasn't going to break his heart in public the way Lucy had. He closed the door behind them and forced himself to turn and face her-

-and found himself with a completely unexpected armful of Laura as she all but threw herself at him. He automatically wrapped her up and pulled her in close, and she buried her face in his neck and just stood there shaking, her fingers fisted into the front of his shirt like she was terrified he might pull away.

Kevin still had no idea what was going on, but he was pretty sure this wasn't the behavior of a woman who was about to break up with a man. "Whoa, easy," he murmured. "Shhh, it's okay."

"It's not okay," she half-said, half-sobbed into his neck. "It'll never be okay. Why do they have to hurt my children? Why can't they just hurt me? Why? Lulu never did anything to any of them!"

Kevin's confusion deepened. If something had happened to Lulu, that definitely explained why Laura was in such a state. But if something had happened to Lulu, then what the hell was Laura doing here? He tightened his hold on her and rocked her a little. "I need you to tell me what's happened, okay? Take a deep breath and start at the beginning."

She took a slow, shaky breath. "Lulu and Dante were here when I came in. They came to see… Griffin's doing a DNA test, but…" Another shaky breath. "Lulu is Charlotte's mother."

Kevin was quiet for a minute, trying to wrap his head around that. What he really wanted to say was _How is that even possible?_ , but if there was one thing he'd learned from listening to Laura's stories it was that with the Cassadines, anything was possible. "Is Lulu alright?" he asked instead.

Laura started to nod, then shook her head, then just buried her face in his neck again. "I don't know. She's over the moon and mad as hell."

"That sounds about right. And you?"

"I don't want her to have to deal with this. I know what it's like, and I don't- I can't-" She started to cry helplessly.

Kevin buried his face in her hair and held her close, rubbing her back as his body slowly stood down from red alert. It didn't sound as if anyone was in imminent danger. Laura had had a bad shock, and Lulu and her entire family were in for a bumpy ride, but this was something they could handle, all of them together. And Laura would realize that as soon as she calmed down enough to think clearly again.

Eventually she pulled away a little, and Kevin relaxed his hold on her, subconsciously bracing himself for her to step back and scrub at her face and start apologizing.

But this time she surprised him, staying right where she was and turning her tear-streaked face up to his to softly say, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he murmured, and brought his left hand up to touch her cheek, moving slowly lest he break this spell that had somehow made it alright for her to cry in front of him. "And if you'd like to talk, I'm here."

"I don't even know where to start," she answered, and Kevin could see from the lost look in her eyes that it was the truth.

"Don't worry about making it make sense," he suggested gently. "Just start talking and see where it takes you. Start with one true thing."

"He's going to fight us," Laura blurted.

"Valentin?" Kevin clarified, and she nodded. "He really is Charlotte's father, then."

Another nod. "Yes. Although apparently he didn't… All this wasn't his idea. Or so he claims."

"But you don't believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe. And Lulu hasn't slowed down long enough to question anything. She's just thrilled to have a daughter. She has no idea…" Laura trailed off, closing her eyes. "She has no idea."

"About…?" he prompted softly after a moment.

"What it's like to love a child and hate its father." Her eyes opened again, and Kevin lost his breath. He had seen her in pain before, but never like this. Lulu's news had torn open old, deep wounds inside Laura, and for once she wasn't hiding her hurt.

"I loved Nikolas," she continued, her eyes filling with fresh tears. "I'll always love him. He was my son. But I hated Stavros, and I couldn't forget him. I wanted to, and I couldn't. Because Nikolas was his son, too."

"I can't imagine what that must have been like for you," Kevin murmured.

"Sometimes I felt like I was losing my mind. Nikolas would do something...something innocent...stand a certain way or get a certain tone in his voice, and I would remember…" She stopped, shivering. "I don't want Lulu to see Valentin in Charlotte. But she will."

"She may at times, yes," Kevin said carefully, "but her experience won't be what yours was. Lulu doesn't know Valentin, not really. She has every reason to hate him, but what you're talking about-seeing a parent's traits and mannerisms in a child-requires a depth of knowledge that Lulu doesn't have."

Laura's gaze turned inward as she considered that, and after a moment she nodded. "You're right. I hadn't… I didn't think of it that way."

"And you encountered Nikolas again as a grown man," Kevin pointed out gently. "Charlotte is still a child. She's far less likely to trigger that sense of familiarity."

"I didn't think of that, either," Laura answered, looking up at him gratefully. "That's… I should have thought that through."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. All of this has to be stirring up a lot of things you'd rather not re-live." That was as close as he was willing to come to asking her to talk about that old pain he'd seen in her eyes. She wasn't a patient, and it wasn't his place to push.

But Laura surprised him again, nodding and quietly admitting, "Yes. What you said about Lulu not knowing Valentin...it's a blessing. I didn't have a choice about knowing Stavros." Her expression turned bitter. "In any sense."

Kevin was grateful for the professional training that kept him from flinching. He had known before today, of course, that Stavros Cassadine had held Laura prisoner and that she had borne his child. And he had understood how those two facts were related without her having to spell it out. But hearing her allude to it, however obliquely, still made him want to murder a man long since dead.

"And the worst thing," Laura continued, "was that Nikolas knew that. Not the details-I never wanted him to know what a monster his father really was-but the truth. At least Lulu and Charlotte won't have _that_ hanging over their heads."

"Thank God for that," Kevin agreed.

Laura looked at him with sudden intensity. "Do you think Valentin is crazy?"

"Crazy isn't a clinical term," Kevin said cautiously, fairly sure he knew where she was going with this.

"A psychopath," Laura amended.

"No. No, his thinking is far too well-ordered for that. I'd say Valentin was born perfectly normal and shaped into what he is today, partly by circumstance, partly by his own choices."

"So Charlotte…?"

"Is no more likely to be mentally ill than anyone else."

Laura sagged with relief. "Thank you. That's… Stavros was _never_ normal. Helena may have twisted him further, but men like that are born warped. I don't think she even knew what he was, not really. She would have been afraid of him if she'd known."

"You must have been frightened for Nikolas."

"God, yes. The entire time I was pregnant I was terrified that he might be what Stavros was. But Nikolas was nothing like his father. He cared for people. Stavros cared for no one."

"Sociopath?" Kevin asked.

Laura nodded. "Yes. He could just...flip a switch. Seem human one moment and then…" She shuddered, looking down. "It was like being in bed with the Devil. You probably think I'm exaggerating."

Again, Kevin's training held, allowing him to speak calmly. "No. That kind of Evil is difficult to describe in words. I think your way of putting it is...very apt."

Her eyes came back up to his. "You know," she murmured after a moment.

Kevin nodded and waited for the inevitable question.

But Laura worked it out on her own. "Ryan," she realized aloud.

"Yes. I remember very clearly what it felt like to look into a human face and see...something else...behind it." He shook his head slightly, not wanting to sink too far into that memory. "And Valentin has never given me that sensation, not even when he shot me. So I think it's safe to say that however _bad_ he may be, he isn't actually Evil."

Laura seemed to consider that, then agreed, "He's never felt that way to me, either. So you don't think he's a danger to Charlotte?"

"No, I don't. His sense of family may be warped, but it's strong. He's not going to hurt his daughter."

"We have time, then," Laura said with relief. "To think this through. I told Lulu not to do anything crazy."

"Good advice."

She smiled wryly, looking fully herself for the first time since he'd spotted her in the hallway. "Honestly, I'm not sure how much good it did, not that I can blame her. If Charlotte were my daughter…"

Kevin let himself smile back. "You'd already be on the launch to Wyndemere."

"Well...yes. But I can't admit that to Lulu."

"Best not," he agreed, and lightly kissed her forehead. "Feeling better?"

"After talking to you? Always." She reached up to touch his face, and her smile turned tender. "Thank you for that. For being here. For listening. It's been a long time since I had someone to lean on, and I think I'm just now starting to get the hang of it again."

"You're doing just fine," he assured her. "I'm glad you know you can talk to me."

She looked down, suddenly seeming very interested in the pattern of his tie. "It's so strange how I can tell you things I've never even _thought_ about telling anyone else, but then I can't figure out how to tell you the one thing I most want to say. I'm afraid it's going to come out all...jumbled."

Kevin's heart sped up. "I haven't had any trouble understanding you so far."

Laura laughed a little at that. "No, you certainly haven't. You understand me better than I understand myself half the time. So...okay, here goes." She took a deep breath and looked up at him again. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted when you told me you loved me. I know it must have seemed to you like you'd upset me or like I didn't want to say it back. The truth is that I _did_ want to say it back, and that scared the hell out of me. So I did what I'm so very good at doing when I feel overwhelmed. I ran. And then I was ashamed of myself because you deserve better than that."

Relief washed over Kevin, and the tight knot in his stomach began to unravel. Laura loved him. She might not have quite managed the actual words yet, but she loved him. He wanted to whoop for joy, but she obviously felt terrible, and he could hardly let _that_ stand.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"I ran away," she repeated miserably.

"Yes, but this time you stopped yourself before you got to France."

She laughed again even as tears welled in her eyes. "I did, didn't I?"

"And _you_ called _me_. Remember?"

Laura nodded.

"So you don't have anything to be ashamed of, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled up at him through her tears. "How do you always know the perfect thing to say?"

"They teach us that in psychiatrist school. You didn't know?"

Now she was laughing outright. "I've known quite a few psychiatrists, Kevin Collins, and you're the only one I've ever fallen in love with."

Kevin smiled and cocked his head at her, waiting.

And about three seconds later her eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. "Oh. Oh, I...I, uhm…"

"Uh-huh. And it didn't come out jumbled, and the world didn't end. See? It's alright."

She threw her arms around neck, hugging him hard, and Kevin gave in to the urge to pick her up and swing her around, earning himself a delightfully startled little squeal.

"Kevin!"

"What?" he asked innocently, setting her back on her feet. "I'm happy."

"So am I. Come here, you." And she pulled him down and kissed him thoroughly.

"I love you," he said when she released him.

And Laura didn't hesitate, looking him right in the eye to say, "I love you, too."

Kevin rested his forehead against hers, and they just stood like that for a long moment.

Until finally Laura drew back a little, her reluctance obvious. "As much as I hate to do this, I suddenly have the feeling that I might need to go check on Lulu."

"You mean you might need to go talk her out of whatever crazy thing she's gone charging off to do?" Kevin translated.

"That, yes," Laura admitted.

"Want some company?"

She blinked. "Don't you have to work?"

"I'd blocked off this afternoon to catch up on paperwork, but I can do that another time. And if you're about to follow Lulu out to Wyndemere, I'd really rather you didn't do that alone. No offense."

"None taken. And if you're sure, then yes, you're more than welcome to come with me."

Kevin was honestly surprised at how easy that had been, but he wasn't about to question her. "Let me grab my coat, and I'll be right with you."

"Take your time. I imagine I need to fix…" She gestured toward her face.

"You're beautiful," Kevin answered, "but go do whatever you need to do, and I'll meet you at the elevator."

"Deal."

Laura disappeared out the door, every inch a mother on a mission, and Kevin shook his head at himself a little as he grabbed his coat and locked up his office. Whatever he was about to involve himself in would probably turn out to be completely crazy...and he didn't even care. Laura loved him, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
